Polymerized cholesteric liquid crystal microdisks generated by centrifugal microfluidics towards tunable laser emissions [Invited]

The method for batch continuous production of polymerized cholesteric liquid crystal (PCLC) microdisks based on centrifugal microfluidics was proposed. The prototype centrifugal microfluidic chip was fabricated by the wet-etching technique with a series of ladder-like concentric ring channels whose depths decrease radially. Two types of dye-doped PCLC microdisks with different doping procedures were generated by this method, the tunable lasing properties were characterized, and corresponding potential applications in a micro-cavity laser and optical barcode were demonstrated. The method is also applicable to a broad range of other polymerized materials.